Bolt, the popular mobility application, has pledged a massive sum of €2.5 million to empower more women to drive with its platform and other ride-hailing services. Known as the “Women at the Wheel” campaign, Bolt initiated this move to address the under-representation of females in the mobility sector. The company aims to help women gain access to additional earning opportunities provided by working as a driver on a ride-hailing platform.
According to Venus Lim, Bolt’s Director of Central Operations for Ride-hailing, gender inequality in the mobility sector is a significant challenge, which makes the inequality even more apparent. In bridging this gap, Bolt’s “Women at the Wheel “campaign would raise awareness of some of the prejudices held against female drivers while making it easy for women to access flexible, independent work on Bolt and other ride-hailing platforms. Offering these opportunities is especially essential, given that the cost of living is rising globally.
This campaign comes at a time when almost nine out of ten women have reported a rise in living costs in the past twelve months. This revelation is from a recent survey of 2,000 women across four countries in Europe and Africa by Bolt. To tackle this challenge, Bolt aims to make it easy for women to access opportunities in the ride-hailing industry.
The vast majority of the women surveyed (93 per cent) said they had sought new opportunities to earn additional income. Still, only 7.2 per cent of them had considered working as a driver on a ride-hailing app to earn extra money.
Yahaya Mohammed, Bolt Rides’ Country Manager in Nigeria, has lauded the company for their commitment to champion women empowerment in the ride-hailing industry. In Nigeria, Bolt has supported women’s career growth in the tech industry through its Women in Tech internship programme.
The internship programme, now in its third year, offers young women with a keen interest in the tech and ride-hailing industry a three-month paid internship while being mentored by top women in Bolt’s leadership.
According to Mr Mohammed, Bolt believes that empowering women and achieving gender equality is a key pillar of their work. This commitment is in line with the United Nations sustainable development goal 5. Bolt recognizes the significant role that drivers play in the continued growth of its brand and contributes to bridging the gender gap by allowing women to be self-employed in the digital e-hailing space. Through the “Women at the Wheel” campaign, Bolt aims to offer more women in Nigeria viable economic opportunities to empower themselves and advance the growth of the ride-hailing industry.
It is worth mentioning that Bolt launched this campaign across eleven countries, including Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Romania, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Latvia, and Estonia.
The “Women at the Wheel” campaign is a significant step in the right direction in promoting gender equality and empowering women in Nigeria and other countries where Bolt operates.
